Ukrainian troops train for trench warfare near France's WW1 battlefields

A training session involving some 2,000 Ukrainian conscripts and veterans takes place in the muddy fields of the Champagne military camp in eastern France, November 14, 2024. REUTERS/John Irish

CHAMPAGNE, France (Reuters) - Soldiers scramble through trenches under a haze of yellow smoke, machine gunfire booms across the fields, invisible drones buzz overhead and voices scream in Ukrainian "Watch out!"

The scene could be 3,000 km (1,860 miles) away in Ukraine's Donbas region, but instead some 2,000 Ukrainian conscripts and veterans are training in the muddy fields of France's eastern Marne region, where French and German armies once hammered each other during World War 1.